Bloomberg STP Solutions, a global cross-asset, post-trade processing provider, and Traiana, the leading provider of pre-trade risk and post-trade processing solutions, today announced a joint effort to develop a straight-through processing infrastructure to further streamline the workflow of foreign exchange (FX) options.
The solution integrates Traiana's Harmony messaging network with Bloomberg's trade processing tools.
"As the FX market reaches greater levels of automation, FX options, with their complex instrument structures and numerous post-execution events, continue to involve manual processes which present operational risks and challenges to market participants," said Ben Macdonald, Bloomberg's Global Head of Product. "We believe that providing a decentralized solution to both buy and sell side participants offers them the flexibility needed for broad market coverage and a greater level of participation."
The messaging service will use existing infrastructure from both companies to include affirmation, allocation and trade lifecycle management for FX options. Bloomberg FXGO clients will be able to affirm trades received from any bank and then submit post trade allocations to any prime broker via the Traiana Harmony network.
Jill Sigelbaum, Global Head of FX at Traiana, said: "Using the connectivity and reach of Traiana's Harmony network and the power of Bloomberg's trade processing tools, data and analytics, market participants will be able to streamline their FX options post-trade management practices. This collaboration means that our existing community of banks, brokers and prime brokers can have ready access to Bloomberg clients with no infrastructure changes required."
Both Bloomberg and Traiana believe this to be an important step towards introducing much needed straight through-processing for FX options. The use of existing infrastructure makes the solution a very cost effective means to accommodate a variety of existing market workflows around affirmations and allocations.